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Origin and history

The castle of Dieulouard, called in the Middle Ages "Deus lou wart" ("God guard him" in Lorrain), was erected around 997 by Adalberon II, bishop of Metz, to house the inhabitants of a new village established near the ruins of Scarpone, an ancient Gallo-Roman city destroyed by Attila in the fifth century. This strategic site, crossed by the Roman way Lyon-Trèves, already housed a late castrum (fourth century), forerunner of the medieval fortress. The castle, mentioned for the first time in 1028 in letters patent of Emperor Conrad II the Salica, became a key post to control the river trade on the Moselle and serve as a provost ephemeral in Lorene land.

Over the centuries, the fortress bore many sieges and destructions, notably by the Messins (12th century), Charles the Temerary (15th century), and the Huguenots. In the 14th century, he re-constructed on several occasions an imposing defensive structure: a straight facade of 100 meters, a polygonal enclosure flanked by seven circular towers and a square tower, crenellated walls of 20 meters high, and a rocking bridge. These developments, partially redesigned in the 16th century, made it a major stronghold, integrated into the urban fabric with houses attached to its ramparts.

In 1660, the castle was "capped" and made harmless, before being sold as a national good during the Revolution. Divided into lots, it housed about fifteen families who broke new openings and built gardens. Its rehabilitation began in the 1970s with the restoration of the episcopal home and the creation of a Gallo-Roman museum (Musée des Amis du Vieux Pays), exhibiting artifacts of Scarpone — such as Milestones of the Emperors Hadrian and Postumus — and a collection of Renaissance glasses. Today, the monument, inscribed in the Historical Monuments since 1927, bears witness to nearly a thousand years of history, from the Gallo-Roman origins to its role as episcopal sentinel in Lorraine.

The site is part of a broader historical context: heir to the ancient Scarpona, it illustrates the transition between late antiquity and the Middle Ages, marked by the barbaric invasions (Alamans, Huns) and the recomposition of local power around bishops. The fortress was also an issue in the conflicts between Messins, Counts of Vaudémont, and Duchy of Lorraine, reflecting the political and religious tensions of the region until the modern era.

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